-Caveat Lector- UC Santa Cruz Postpones Grade Vote By MARTHA MENDOZA .c The Associated Press SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) - Professors at the notoriously liberal University of California, Santa Cruz, put off a vote to change the school's grading system Friday, saying they want more feedback from students. Since it opened in 1965, UC Santa Cruz students have been given narrative essays describing their work instead of traditional letter grades. Students can request letter grades, but last year only one in three did. Still, 170 faculty members have asked the Academic Senate to dump the narrative evaluation system. They say it makes it harder for employers and graduate schools to evaluate UC Santa Cruz graduates. The controversy has rocked the campus of 11,000 where 1960s radical Angela Davis is a professor and the banana slug is the school mascot. Over 1,000 students, most indignant over the proposed change, swarmed the Academic Senate's Friday night meeting, saying they didn't come to UC Santa Cruz for traditional grades. ``Grades say nothing,'' said Jen Sethsong, a junior sociology major. ``But a narrative evaluation talks in detail about my strong and weak points.'' To reach the meeting, professors had to walk a 300-foot path lined with hundreds of silent students linking arms and holding signs. One read: ``Grades are a method of sorting vegetables.'' Professors who support the change say eliminating evaluations will help the university attract and retain students with strong academic records and make it easier for graduate schools and employers to evaluate student achievement. When the school opened, almost all University of California students were ``well documented A students,'' Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood said. ``At the time, the thinking was, 'What can you tell a student who is already very, very good?''' But entrance standards have lowered, and there is stiff competition for students seeking financial aid, grants, graduate school admission and jobs. ``There are pressures in society that UC Santa Cruz can't control,'' she said. Instead of voting on the proposal as planned Friday, the Academic Senate, made up of 588 faculty members, postponed the vote to give members more time to hear from students. Manuel Schwab, a senior majoring in politics and literature, said the decision to postpone the vote reflected a willingness to listen to student concerns. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
